LXXXV.

1. A Srâddha offered at the (Tîrtha or place of pilgrimage called) Pushkaras confers eternal bliss upon the giver;

2. And so does the muttering of prayers, the offering of burnt-oblations, and the practice of austerities in that place.

3. Even by merely bathing at Pushkara he is purified from all his sins.

4. The same effect may be produced at Gayâsîrsha;

5. And near Vata (Akshayavata);

6. And on the Amarakantaka mountain;

7. And on the Varâha mountain;

[LXXXV. 1. Pushkara, according to the common acceptation of the term, is the name of a celebrated place of pilgrimage near Agmîr, the modern Pokur. See Lassen, Indian Antiquities, I, 113. Nand. quotes a Smriti passage to the effect that there are three Pushkaras, and a passage of the Mahâbhârata, in which it is stated that one Pushkara is sacred to Brahman, another to Vishnu, and a third to Rudra.

3. Nand. asserts with regard to the use of the name Pushkara in the singular number in this Sûtra, that it means even a single bath has the consequence here mentioned.

4. Gayâsîrsha is the name of a mountain near Gayâ in Bihâr, a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Compare Yâgñavalkya I, 260.

5. There exists one Akshayavata in Bihâr (Nand.) and another in Prayâga (Allahabad). The 'undecaying banyan-tree' (Aksbay Bat) is an object of worship at Allahabad even now, and was so already in the times of Hwen Thsang. See Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India, p. 389; St. Julien, Voyages des Pèlerins Bouddhistes, II, 278.

6. Nand. states that both the Tîrtha called Amarakantaka on the Mekalâ mountain in the Vindhya range and the whole mountain of that name are meant.

7. 'This is a certain boar shaped mountain.' (Nand.) It seems very probable that the Tîrtha of Bâramûla, the ancient Varâhamûla {footnote p. 257} in Kasmîr, is meant. See Bühler, Kasmîr Report, p. 12, where a 'Varâha hill' is mentioned as adjacent to that town.]

12. And at Binduka; 13. And upon the Nîlgiri hills; 14. And at Kanakhala; 15. And at Kubgâmra; 16. And on the Bhrigutunga (mountain); 17. And at Kedâra; 18. And on the Mahâlaya (mountain); 19. And on the Nadantikâ (river); 20. And on the Sugandhâ (river); 21. And at Sâkambharî; 22. And at Phalgutîrtha; 23. And on the

[11. This Tîrtha 'is situated upon the mountain called Tryambaka, where the Godâvarî river takes its rise.' (Nand.) Tryambaka is the modern Trimbak (the name of a place of pilgrimage situated near Nâsik).

12. 'Binduka is the name of a Tîrtha in the Dekhan. Bilvaka, as other texts read (the MS. on which the two Calcutta editions are based among the number), is the name of another Tîrtha in the Dekhan.' (Nand.)

14. There is one Kanakhala in the Himâlayas, and another near Trimbak. (Nand.)

15. There is one plain of that name in Orissa, and another in Haridvâr. (Nand.)

16. This is the name of a sacred mountain near the Amarakantaka range, according to Nand.; in the Himâlayas, according to others. See the Petersburg Dictionary.

17. Kedâra (the Kedâr mountains?) is in the Himâlayas. (Nand.)

18, 19. These two names are not defined by Nand.

20. This is a river in the vicinity of the Saugandhika mountain. (Nand.)

21. Sâkambharî is the modern Shâmbar, which lies 'in the desert of Marudesa, on the salt lake.' (Nand.)

22. 'Phalgutîrtha is a Tîrtha in Gayâ.' (Nand.)

23. Mahâgangâ, 'the great Gangâ,' is the Alakânandâ river {footnote p. 258} (Nand.), which takes its rise in the Himâlayas and falls into the Ganges.]

Mahâgangâ; 24. And at Trihalikâgrâma; 25. And at Kumâradhârâ; 26. And at Prabhâsa; 2 7. And particularly anywhere on (the bank of) the Sarasvatî;

28. At Gangâdvâra (Haridvâr), at Prayâga (Allahabad), where the Gangâ falls into the ocean, constantly in the Naimisha forest, and especially at Benares;

29. And at Agastyâsrama;

30. And at Kanvâsrama (on the Mâlinî river);

31. And on the Kausikî (Kosi river);

32. And on the bank of the Sarayû (Surju river in Oudh);

33. And on the confluence of the Sona (Sone) and Gyotisha rivers;

34. And on the Srîparvata (mountain);

[24. 'Trihalikâgrâma means Sâlagrâma. There is another reading, Tandulikâsrama.' (Nand.)

25. This is the name of a lake in Kasmîr, which the god Kumâra by a mighty stroke caused to stream forth from the Krauñka mountain (see Vâyu-purâna); or Kumâradhârâ is situated near the southern ocean in the plain of Ishupâta. (Nand.)

26. Prabhâsa is the name of a Tîrtha near Dvârakâ, on the western point of Kattivar. (Nand.)

27. Regarding the river Sarasvatî and its reputed holiness, see particularly Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India, I, 331 seq., and Manu II, 17.

28. The Naimisha forest is in the northern country. (Nand.)

29. 'Agastyâsrama is situated near Pushkara (Sûtra 1), on the bank of the Sarasvatî. There is another Agastyâsrama in the south, near Svâmisthâna.' (Nand.)

33. The confluence of those two rivers is in the centre of the Vindhya range. For the name of the second, another reading is Gyotîratha. (Nand.)

34. The Srîparvata or Srîsaila, where the Mallikârguna (symbol of Siva) is worshipped, is in the Dekhan. (Nand.)]

55. And anywhere at the birth-place of a deity, (such as Râma, Krishna, and others);

56. And on sand-banks; 57. And near waterfalls; 58. And on mountains; 59. And in arbours (the sporting-places of Krishna); 60. And in woods; 61. And in groves; 62. And in houses smeared with cow-dung, 63. And in 'pleasant spots.'

64. There are some stanzas recited by the manes, which refer to this subject:

65. 'May that person be born to our race, who will give us libations of water, taken from streams abounding with water, especially if their floods (coming from the Himâlayas) are cool.

66. 'May that excellent man be born to our race, who offers us a Srâddha attentively at Gayâsîrsha or at Vata.'

67. A man must wish to have many sons, because if only one of them goes to Gayâ (and offers a Srâddha to him after his death), or if he performs a horse-sacrifice, or if he sets a dark-coloured bull at liberty[1], (he will acquire final emancipation through him.)